Early Jumpers Stop Falling for Alcorn at TCU

FORT WORTH, Texas – A competitive 18 minutes of play quickly swung in TCU's favor after an injury to junior point guard Jada Hargrove bundled with cold shooting as the Alcorn State University women's basketball program fell 88-31 Saturday at Schollmaier Arena.
 
Alcorn (1-11) was going toe-to-toe with a tough TCU (10-1) squad and was tied 12-12 at the end of the first quarter. It wasn't until the Horned Frogs ended the second quarter on a 9-0 run to create separation. The game featured four ties in the first half.
 
The Lady Braves shot 6-for-13 (.462) in the first quarter, but just 5-for-31 (.161) the rest of the way. The big turning point was a 30-0 run by TCU which started with two minutes left in the second quarter and carried over to the 1:24 mark of the third when junior Toddriana Isler hit a jumper.
 
Junior Diamond Hall led Alcorn with seven points and eight rebounds off the bench.
 
The Lady Braves, who were playing their non-conference finale, mixed and matched their lineups and played 12 student-athletes. However, they were without junior Charisma Walker who averages 10.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
 
Amy Okonkwo netted a game-high 18 points for TCU. Adeola Akomolafe registered a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Alcorn is now 2-2 all-time against TCU.
 
The Lady Braves will open conference action Saturday, Jan. 5 when they host Texas Southern at 3 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. The Alcorn men will follow as part of a doubleheader.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On how the game got away from Alcorn
"We had to sit some key players. Jada Hargrove is our heartbeat – as she goes, we go. We said we were going to play her before the game but she's had a back injury. After we were forced to pull her, it was like we were missing our quarterback. That really hurt us, and our back-ups are young. Our guards did the best they could and they got some great training. I'm very excited and pleased with the level of competition we've been going up against heading into conference. We'll get Jada, Charisma Walker, Kirdis Clark and Aysha Kirkland back to 100 percent, and we'll be okay if we can maintain our health."
 
On the game plan coming in
"We wanted to slow the game down. Offensively, we wanted to run the shot clock under 10 seconds and make them defend us. We missed a lot of chip shots, but we were able to get shots we wanted. We did an excellent job of making TCU move around and getting them out of their comfort zone. That's how we stayed in it the first quarter and the first eight minutes of the second. Our point guard then had to leave the game and that really hurt us."
 
On the team heading into conference play
"I'm excited about our chances. We just have to make sure that we're taking care of our bodies and staying healthy so that we can play Alcorn Lady Braves basketball. We played five freshmen which was a tall task today but I was pleased with the effort and we want to be ready for Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M next weekend."
 
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